Orange Squeezer DIY

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Orange Squeezer DIY

Overview

Fresh squeezed orange juice has a far superior taste to most commercial juice and is a great way to get your daily requirement of vitamin C. You can make interesting blends of juice by using navel oranges, tangerines, as well as "juice" oranges. Blood oranges, grown in Italy and Northern California, have a dark red pulp that gives a gorgeous hue and imparts a rich, sweet flavor to juice.

Make your own

You can buy a fancy juicer, but if you are not going to use it frequently, it will just take up space and collect dust. If you have an old ladle, you can squeeze juice by cutting an orange in half, and twisting the cut orange half over the outside of the ladle. If you want to use the ladle exclusively for juicing, cut part of the handle off (and then cover the cut part with duct tape, so you won't cut yourself). This way the ladle will be closer to the bowl you are collecting juice in, and the juice will have less opportunity to splash. You need only about an inch of handle, enough to lift the ladle out of any collected juice.
If you really want to get fancy, you can drill a couple of large holes in the ladle, so juice will drip through that and not over the bowl of the handle and onto your hands.
Most juice oranges are filled with seeds, but don't strain the juice; this will also remove the pulp. You can use a slotted spoon to take the seeds out, or pour the juice carefully through a slotted spoon into a glass. When you first cut the orange in half, you can remove any seeds on top to make your job easier later.
If you have really strong hands, you can squeeze oranges just by crushing them in your hands. And it is a good exercise for increasing hand strength, too.

Getting the most juice

Citrus fruits yield more juice when they are at room temperature than when they are cold. Take oranges out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you want to juice them. Do not microwave! You don't want to cook the fruit, even if just briefly. You can also roll the oranges in your hands to warm them.
Of course, if you squeeze warm oranges, you will get warm juice, so stick the juice in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so to chill it. But drink the juice soon; both the flavor and vitamin C content diminish quickly.

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About this Author

Judy Antell has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and a Master of Arts degree in literature and drama from Washington University. She was the editor of Big Apple Parent for 13 years and continues to write for the monthly publication. Antell has been published in The New York Times, Parents magazine and on numerous websites.